U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,092 discloses a baler having a main frame to which is coupled a crop pick-up. An integrated crop baffle and hold-down assembly is provided for controlling crop being picked up by the tined reel of the pick-up. The integrated baffle and hold-down assembly is suspended for floating over a crop windrow by a suspension including a trailing link arrangement having a rear end pivotally attached to each end of the baffle and including a front end having a lost motion slot received on a guide pin fixed to the baler frame. Each of opposite ends of the pick-up is provided with a flare sheet mounted for pivoting about the pick-up reel axis and carrying a guide pin located within a fore-and-aft extending guide slot provided in a bracket carried by the baler frame. Mounted between each end of the baffle and the latter named guide pin is a flexible cable which establishes a minimum clearance between the baffle and the pick-up reel. The crop hold-down arrangement includes a plurality of compressor rods mounted in spaced relationship to each other across the top of the baffle, the rods being curved above the path traced by the pick-up tines and terminating at a location between a crop feed rotor and a bale starter roll.
For the most part, the above-described patented integrated crop baffle and hold-down assembly performs excellently. However, the assembly has the limitations of requiring rather exacting tolerances on several of the suspension components in order to maintain proper orientation of the compressor rods, which, even if properly oriented, sometimes contact the bale starter roll. Another limitation is that the linkage between the pick-up and the baffle for causing the baffle to be lifted with the pick-up tends to carry significant loads from crop flow which can pull on the baffle.